ccsears sketchbook

[Gpozzo]

Great sketchbook, i'm loving your work, very nice stuff man, that ''city tent'' idea is crazy, i really like it, anyways keep at it, i'm looking forward for more

[IdaS]

holy moley you're amazing

[ccsears]

sorry for not posting... i'm still alive and still drawing, but there have been a lot of things i needed to take care of.

still working on the project too... WIP



Gpozzo, IdaS--Thanks!

[sknawt]

Just wanted to say you're a huge inspiration for me and I wanted to thank you for the mentoring thread posts you made.

[ccsears]

sknawt--Thanks man, I'm glad to help when I get the chance.

[ccsears]

more wip

[NickyBeats]

wow Chris i love seeing your updates! really nice brush strokes on the latest guy. very nice lighting too! so solid!!!

[Quike Garcia]

Is the "windmill" attached to the harness? I really like the whole desing of the piece, the penintential feeling it has

[kingkostas]

awesome chris!!! And i love the way you presented the wips, a quick scroll down and it gives a nice effect . Great desing, thanks for sharing!!!

[kevin_]

really impressive work! characters and environment are both great!

[ccsears]

another wip. these are supposed to be pilgrims on a Hajj-type pilgrimage. the things on their back are their tents and supplies, kind of all folded up.


NickyBeats--Thanks! I've been absent for a while due to a bunch of stuff. my mom broke her hip and is in the hospital again, classes, a little freelance here and there... it's been hectic.

Quike--Thanks! Glad to hear you say that because that's kind of the mood I was going for. The windmill thing isn't fully designed yet, but it's really just his tent while he's on the pilgrimage.

kingkostas--Thanks! I haven't been able to comment much, but I know you've been really busy too. I hope your surgery goes well man

kevin_ --Thanks!

[ccsears]

WIP sketch...

[ccsears]

another idea...

[kingkostas]

these are looking interesting already. Ofcourse i love the first one more, i just love dark shadows and contrast
Thanks for sharing mate!!!

[ccsears]

more WIP


kingkostas--Thanks man! I want to get back to finishing that one. I'm supposed to pump out 10 of these by Saturday morning... not sure if I have enough time to do that with everything that's going on. cheers!

[ccsears]

homework...wip






ps. thanks for the support to anyone who stops by. it's been rough. my mom broke her hip, etc. etc. it's hard to get shit done right now.

[kingkostas]

Sorry to hear that chris, i hope for the best possible.
The way you are working these is very impressive.Take care

[ccsears]

i arrived early for jury duty so i got a table and a power outlet... doing homework while waiting to serve JUSTICE.





kingkostas--Thanks man, things will work out one way or another. It's just hard to concentrate. Like usual, I find I get better work done in the most ridiculous places--laundromats, courthouses, airports, etc. something about trying to ignore everything around me helps me focus on my art in a weird way. not all the time, but pretty frequently.

[kingkostas]

heheheh sounds cool, i dont think i can concentrate that easily on such areas ahaha. Btw i am also utilizing dark at the same way lately and i find it very useful on some kind of images. Great as usual

[ccsears]

survived two rounds of jury lottery so far...knock on wood.
been getting a nice chance to paint. managed to grab a power outlet after lunch too.



kingkostas--cheers man, i'm gonna stop by your sb now.

[ccsears]

[kingkostas]

managed to hit the thanks button ahahahah . Thanks very much mate, your words are very encouraging to me!!!
Very interesting lighting in this one, gives me a calm mood, like it becomes orange back there because of the sun hitting the somehow transparent fabric.Also another interesting thing i forgot to mention, is how by filling well defined shapes, with texture, gives that realistic effect [ofcourse the values are doing their work]
Keep inspiring mate!!!

[Inkthyosaur]

Loving your work mate, you have carved out something truly unique here, and it's a real pleasure to look through something that feels so fresh and distinct. Nailing the design is half (or more) of the battle and you've definitely got that down. Nice to see something outside of genre norms.

[ccsears]

homework...















ikthyosaur--Thanks man, it's nice to hear that. I've seen flashes of that tiger's tail in the jungle so I need to just be patient and grab it for a ride when I get the chance.

kingkostas--yeah, i know what you mean. subsurface scattering the old fashioned way. working like this is a little like carving maybe too... it helps with composition a bit because it makes "windows" to look through and immediately makes a bit of depth.
it's always good to hear from you. i thought i saw you were going to london for the CA meet-up thing? definitely bring your stuff, i'm sure you're going to be getting a lot of job offers pretty quickly!

[kingkostas]

Another great start to an interesting piece chris!!!I am also playing a little with 3d base lately, tried to search some rendering stuff also. An interesting way to create organic like terrain [like mountain, and bumps like that] is something they said like a "noise procedural map" or something like that, i have to research it some more. In your work it seems like you used the 3d mesh as a placeholder rather than a rough version of the design right? Thats also very interesting, at least in aiding with perspective and depth.
Yep i will be in london!!! Thank you very very much mate, thats really encouraging coming from you!!! Are you going to? I am trying to find a tablet pc to have as a means to showcase my work, other than that i really have to keep working to produce more pieces. Thanks again!!!

[ccsears]

more homework wip.






kingkostas--

the boxes i'm using are usually like these here. i made a bunch of transparent blocks and varied their size a lot. i also added in some flat 1-sided planes (transparent like the blocks on one side, invisible on the other). by mixing these between several "layers" in modo, i could turn them on or off or move them around at random. i like having the material kind of transparent because it aids in setting up the perspective a lot. for a couple of them i played around with the camera FOV angle (or focal length) to get more of a widescreen shot.

i wasn't modeling with anything in mind per se, i just kept turning the camera around until i saw a cool composition and then tried to make something based on what i know about my imaginary world. usually i have to re-crop or extend the image to make it work, but it serves as a good starting point for a composition. a lot of them can be re-used if you turn them on their side or upside down too. the idea was to just jump start my environment pieces so i wasn't staring at a blank image and wondering what i was going to do. even though i usually wind up ignoring most of the information in those blocks and recropping the image, it makes the whole thing less painful. i hate drawing something and then wishing i had changed the camera angle or moved the vanishing points. drives me nuts. this saves a lot of time.

i think i know what you mean about noise procedural maps, but i don't know how to do it either. i've gotten better at using replicators in modo, but i'm still struggling with uv maps, bump mapping, etc. i just don't have enough time to go through those tutorials right now.

i don't think i'll be able to make the london thing. just not enough spare money or vacation time right now. hopefully i'll make it someday though. you should definitely bring your portfolio or just anything that can access web pages. set up a blog as a temporary portfolio and just walk around showing that and i'm sure you'll be getting a lot of interested replies.

[Henry1rew4er]

I love this, its really nice. GOod shading and good EYe studies. Very intensive.

[kingkostas]

awesome!! thanks for sharing these !!! I have never tried having them transparent, thats also an interesting idea, seems more flexible and i like it.
hahaha yeah damn these uv maps, i hate them!!!
Thats unfortunate mate, but sometime we may meet and i will steal your skills ahahah!!!
Awesome wips as usual, really love the shape arrangement
Keep up inspiring and thanks for encouraging!!!

[ccsears]

engineering work...




kingkostas--Thanks man! I'm sure our paths will cross someday!

[ccsears]

more work